7/20 Drive East through the Cascades

This is a great drive through the Cascades on Route Oregon 22 and then U.S. 20 from Salem, OR, to Sisters, near Bend, OR.  I've driven it before but discovered a dam and a volcanic rock field I had not noticed before.  (Or maybe I noticed it but forgot??)


Anyway, as you can see, it is gorgeous drive.  Hardly any traffic this day, also.

This is Detroit Lake.

And what else but Detroit Dam.

I did a double-take here and stopped a bit up the road to look at this lava flow more closely.

Lots of volcanic activity in this area.  Millions of years ago, a rift opened from north to south and caused a string of volcanos to erupt almost together.

Nice, wide and smooth shoulder to pull off on.  I really appreciate states that provide such nice shoulders.  Narrow ones make me nervous and make it impossible for my big vehicle to get completely off the road, which is not safe and so prevents me from stopping. I think this one is covered with volcanic gravel from someplace else.

Coming up to the location of the B&B (Bear Butte and Booth) fires that burned 40,000 acres of ponderosa pine in 2003.  More information is here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%26B_Complex_Fires

Even though this fire was obviously devastating to the trees, you can see a lot of new growth underneath.

I checked my odometer, and noticed that I drove at least 8 miles through this burned area.  Other than Yellowstone, that's the biggest fire area I have ever seen.


Still trying to figure out the name of this perfect cone volcano.